For those not familiar, Cracked.com is a comedy site similar to Mad Magazine. According to Alexa surveys, which rank website popularity, it is the 289th most-visited site in the US. While the content on the site can be humorous, it is typically not risky (except for the lost productivity when reading instead of working). However, the folks at Barracuda Labs have discovered that the site has been hosting malware for at least a week now.
Visitors to the site are exposed to a javascript exploit which downloads and installs itself onto the visitors' computer and leaves "little indication that their system has been compromised except that the java plugin has launched and the system is low on memory" according to Barracuda Labs.
Full technical details from Barracuda Labs can be found at the link below.
http://barracudalabs.com/2013/11/yesterday-on-cracked-com-malware/
According to virustotal.com, as of 8:00 AM EST on 11/14/13, 24 of the 47 antivirus engines tested will detect the infection. Full results are available at the link below.
https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/0fb9613582fd025b6fd14dcd003973c676db3798b733851a6b37ef6b0bc5f3be/analysis/
If you are a reader of Cracked.com and are concerned about your system potentially having been exposed, contact your IT provider for assistance, even if your system shows no signs of infection. We here at Pointsolve Technology are pleased to note that our recommended antivirus vendor, Vipre Antivirus, does in fact detect this attack. However, we are still advising not visiting the site until the infection has been removed.
If you are not using Vipre Antivirus but would like to inquire about how to get started, feel free to contact our very own Nick Stevenson at nstevenson@pointsolve.com or 866-336-3106 ext 2.
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